Wednesday, October 28, 2009

I'd been waiting to process those two extra pumpkins from the farmers' market to test my new blender. Yep, that's right. After thinking about it for 2 years, I finally purchased a blender. I'll pause to allow some of my family members to faint and recover...

But seriously. I didn't want to buy one unless I was sure I'd get good use out of it. Well, now that our housemate has been living with us for 2-1/2 months and I've used her blender probably 10 times, I decided that YES, indeed. I would definitely use a blender on a regular basis. She arrived on my doorstep just last night making today her amazing debut!

Just like last week in Lovin' From the Oven, I halved the pumpkins and put them on a cookie sheet to bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes to an hour. After letting them cool, I removed the peel and cut the pulp into pieces to better fit in my awesome new mixer (ain't it pretty?).

Note: When reviews said this blender was loud, they weren't kidding - let me apologize now if I woke up any of our neighbors from an afternoon nap. But it's also supposed to be the best in it's price range and I wanted something simple and heavy duty.

Anyway, simple it was. With only two speeds, the blender managed to puree all that pumpkin into a nice gooey, but delicious pumpkin-y mess. Then, of course thanks to the advice from all you wonderful readers, I placed it in a strainer to drain out any liquid excess before I measure it in 2 cup increments (about 1 can's worth) and freeze it tomorrow.

With any luck, we'll be enjoying lovin' from the oven (aka pumpkin pie) all year round. Now why have I never done this before?

I always put my pumpkin puree in reuable freezer bags. (A dollar or two is worth getting the more durable ones.)I also use the smaller bags, and make sure there's a pre-measured amount in the bags, so I only have to thaw what I need.Less air in the packaging also helps with longer term freezing.

Beany - Gosh, don't I know it! I've used our housemate's blender (it was her grandma's) and it has umpteen speeds. I can't for the life of me figure out how they're different (neither can our housemate). I really like the two speeds (one you hold as long as you want, and the other sticks so you can take your hand off). Easy cheesy! Just the way I like it.